My sump is so loud!!!

My sump is so loud!!! SOLVED!!

Ok,

Heres the problem. I have a 72 bowfront with a 29 gallon sump that I just installed. The intake is coming from a continuous siphon overflow box hanging on the back of the tank through a stockman standpipe straight down a 1 inch pipe until it hits one 45 degree joint quickly followed by another to make a smooth transition under the tank into the sump. The return is a mag 7 with just over 36 inches of head pressure. Now the problem is that this sump is loud. I mean jacuzzi loud. This tank is in my living room and it sounds like I have a jacuzzi running on high jets all the time.

My first attempt was to have the intake go completely under water and end with a 90 degree joint. The bubbles and splashes were unbearable. So after being extremely tired trying to fix it (2am) and pissed off, I just took the pipe cutter and wacked it right off after the 2nd 45 degree joint so it pours 2 inches through the air into the water. That left me with big splashes and bubbles created by the big splashes. I have tried filter socks around the outbound end, I have tried filling the sock with sponges. Nothing is changing the sound. Any suggestions would be great, I need them asap before my wife puts a bullet through the front glass plate. I am attaching a drawing of how it is setup as well as how it used to be. By the way, my stockman has an air intake of about a 1/2 inch.

 

First of all, you should have the end of outflow tube in the sump under water. Do not put any bends at the end as the more bends you have in the line the more gurgling you will have. Ideally you want the line to be straight as an arrow from the overflow to the sump.
Second, what kind of overflow box are you using? Check out the mod from this site. I use this mod in my overflow box and it cuts down on the noise dramatically. Its very easy to make, took me 20 minutes if that.

www.dursostandpipes.com and navigate to Popular Mods and then to Stockman Hangon Overflow

R. Durso's 180g - Ken Stockman Standpipe

Also, if your mag 7 is making too much noise, check out a Quiet One 3000 or 4000 pump. They are the most Quiet pumps I have found. Also, get a filter sponge like the ones that go in the Hagen aquaclear filters, cut it length wise and wrap your pump in it with a rubberband. This keeps it from vibrating against the sump.

 

My overflow has a stockman standpipe as well, but I use that flexible, ribbed pool hose stuff to bring the flow down to my sump. I have the hose end about an 1 inch below the water line in my bubble tower. I'm currently using a piece of 1 inch vinyl tubing cut lengthwise under my mag 7 return to cut down on the vibration against the sump glass, but I might try out Raven's suggestion.
Good luck and let us know how things work out!

 

I am using the stockman standpipe mod. That is working fine and I can also deal with the slight vibration from the return pump right now, thats not a big deal. My problem is where the water enters the sump. I can try to make the pipe go under water in the sump without the 90 degree joint at the bottom as shown in the pic above and see how that goes. As far as keeping the pipe completely straight, I will have to keep the two 45 degree joints like I showed in the picture, there is no way around that as long as I am using pvc.

 

what about just doing the single 45 degree and letting it drain into the sump at the 45 degree angle. That is what i'm currently doing from a skimmer.

 

I believe the angle would make the pipe too high and I wouldnt be able to get the pipe under the sumps water level if I left one 45 off. I also think that the pressure of the water coming down would splash against the side of the sump in that position and possible make a mess over the side.

 

Gotcha. You could however put a bucket in the fuge for the water to flow into and then slowley around. It will cut down on the noise and provide an nice bubble trap.

 

Do you mean let the water flow into and around the bucket until it fills up and then overflows into the fuge?

 

You can drill holes in the bucket and let the water diffuse out.

Give the Ribbed flexible tubing a try. I use it as well and it seems to be more quiet than PVC. Home depot sells it.

 

Don't know what size pipe you are using but for the sake of things lets say your OF drain is 1". Take that all the way to the bottom of the sump then put 2- 90 degree fittings on it so that you are pointing it straight back up. Now take that up tube and inlarge it to 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" and cut it just below the water line. Enlarging the pipe will let it displace pressure and allow the water to flow easy. It will also allow for surface breaking of the water for gas exchange. This will quiet your sump down, one of Tangsters tricks that works pretty good.